Prison Cell Jamming Bill Close to Senate Passage

The nation’s prisons are one big step closer Wednesday to being allowed to jam mobile phone signals to keep prisoners from using the phones to commit further crimes, despite strong opposition from digital rights groups that say there are better ways to fight the problem.

The bill — passed by a bi-partisan vote in the Senate Commerce committee — would create the first ever exception to the FCC’s ban on jamming devices.

The measure could be voted on by the full Senate as soon as early as this, before it takes its August break, according to Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson, the bill’s primary sponsor who is also running for Texas governor.

If the bill makes it to the floor, it is likely to pass. Inmates use smuggled cell phones to stay in touch with their families, run gangs outside the prison and to intimidate lawmakers. Proponents of the bill say that jamming signals is the best answer, while opponents argue the technology is easily thwarted and sets a dangerous precedent.

Instead, prisons should reduce demand for the phones by making calls to families less expensive and finding better technology to locate rogue phones within the prison, the groups argue.

California’s Solano state prison found more than 2000 phones in 2008, according to San Quentin public relations officer Lt. Sam Robinson. Robinson’s prison found fewer than 10 rogue devices last year, however, since there’s almost no reception at the prison’s remote location.

If passed, the FCC would have to conduct a rulemaking and get input from technical bodies about the feasibility of current blocking technologies, before setting standards for tech that might get a waiver from the current blanket prohibition on jamming devices.